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Saric'Tau
Despite being the largest Orion Cluster species in terms of population, the Saric’Tau empire was formed mostly by the unifying of planets under their flag. The Saric’Tau (whom call themselves Sar’ for short), originated from the Tau Ceti system on a rather inhospitable planet that had only two types of terrain; vast plateau dotted deserts and deadly mountainous jungles. At one point in time the planet was mostly covered in oceans, Sar’ historians claim that the large deformed moon that orbits the planet, was a rogue asteroid that slammed into what is now called “the Shimmering Sea”. The scorching heat in the impact crater turned much of the silica sand at the ocean floor into a giant glass dent on the planet’s surface. Over time, it became the only large body of water as every underground stream flowed into the pit, it took several thousand years before life could form in the Shimmering Sea, but in the distant new jungles and from small enclaves around the desert, the common insect species that eventually evolved into the Sar’ began to crawl back into prominence. As the Sar’ evolved and adapted to the new world, their ingenuity for means of survival skyrocketed, almost literally. The combined efforts of the most brilliant Saric’Tau minds launched the species into the space age quite early in their evolutionary track. Like several species, FTL travel was primitive and not efficient, until finding the so desired technology already existed. Within the ruins of the long extinct Andromedans, the Saric’Tau uncovered their first designs for Quantum Tunneling, sparking the much more rapid expansion of their species. They did not set out with the goal of dominance or conquering other civilizations, instead they integrated with these new cultures, becoming the primary space-faring species of their united territory. Officially each planet under the Saric’Tau flag is a sovereign entity, part of the greater Tau-Union, and is allowed to secede, but the only time this has happened, the decision was reversed soon after the Sar’ left, when the economy began to fall apart. Even the non-settled systems with planets not bearing sentient beings were shared with their neighbors, creating regions that are predominantly non-Sar’. These regions still have Sar’ settlements, but the original species is spread far and thin, the highest population of which is still on their home planet. It’s quite common to see Saric’Tau throughout the Orion Cluster empires, this is due to several reasons, but it’s mostly labor related. The Sar’ workforce is dedicated and well educated within their trade focus, from the sciences and philosophy to manufacturing and military services. Even though the demand for Sar’ labor is high in almost every field, they pick their employers carefully, making sure that they are well paid and are given proper respect. The Sar’ also respect labor unions and their desires to keep their jobs, often times the Sar’ will actually organize labor unions where there are none, inadvertently increasing productivity and profits through proper management. Physiology Due to the two drastically different environments the Sar’ evolved in, the original Lo’tani insects that survived the cataclysm took on varying forms as they began to change. The rocky deserts that were once ocean floors were almost devoid of life, the other species that did survive posed just enough of a threat to the resourceful Lo’tani that it had to fight for survival. Similarly in the budding jungles, the Lo’tani had to deal with much large invertebrate predators, which despite being vicious and powerful, were unintelligent. The biggest contributor to the forced evolutionary changes was the environment, the deserts needed to be navigated quickly and carefully, sand storms and the sun would claim the any who didn’t respect their power. Speed and strength were needed in the mountainous jungles also, the tectonic plates of the crust took a very long time to settle, forcing mountains to sink and rise on an almost daily basis. By the time the Sar’ had evolved enough to become bipedal, the two bloodlines had several shared characteristics; Six eyes, Six limbs (four arms and two legs), average 8ft height, sensing antennae, claw like feet, and hands with three digits (two fingers and a thumb). There were however slight differences that remained common to the needs of the environment, the jungle bloodlines from the Wapar clan, have eyes running horizontally to give them a wide field of view, pincers formed at the mouth for cracking open tough flora and fauna, tails to trick predators and assist with navigation. In the deserts the self-titled High-seer Sar’ have eyes that run vertically for when climbing plateaus and looking over dunes, water storing metasomas in place of tails and instead of pincers at the mouth, tentacles for reaching every drop of liquid they could. Sar’ DNA is quite malleable within their own genetics, crossed bloodlines can result in interesting combinations of features, some having both mouth tentacles and pincers, or a central set of eyes and a set for both horizontal and vertical eye arrangement genes. Social Behaviors To most civilizations, the Sar’ appear to be awkward and somewhat uncultured, this is in part because of their deep rooted tribalism, but the Sar’ learn at an early age to respect all things, to give themselves for the greater good of everybody else. Because of this, they look at life a bit differently, almost all Sar’ are optimists, almost completely self-less and very light-hearted. Most Sar’ will describe their culture as a “we society” while usually calling less united species “me societies”. The problem of one Sar’ never outweighs the problems of the many, however, if there is something that can be done to assist (ex. A sick elder, etc.), the community will do everything possible to help. In an attempt to show more respect to other species, Sar’ often times will try to match eye level with anybody they speak with; when speaking with somebody taller than them, they will stand straight (same for similar heights), for those shorter, they will hunch over to lower their gaze. For species much shorter than them, they prefer to lift whomever they are speaking with, Zetans in particular (Sar’ and Zetan relations are strained due to their differing cultures)…this practice however is not generally appreciated by the Zetans and can lead to rather unsavory words. There are a few things that can be said to break a Sar’s happy-go-lucky attitude, talking down to them, their species, family, ancestors, their creations, work, and other personal topics will anger them very quickly. Points of consideration: 1. Tribes value the individual more than the group. Everyone has their place in the tribe that is just for them. Though tradition is important it is usually adjusted by personal temperments. 2. Large tribes almost always form a confederacy rather than a kingdom. Nearly the entire society will be many confederacy's seeking consensus while also maintaining their unique identity. 3. In most tribal societies the very worst thing to happen is to be shunned or banished. 4. Shamanism is more about adjusting one's own paradigm and adjusting the paradigm of others. This is why the shamans often seem aloof and other worldly. They don't even think about the world the way you do. Don't talk to them too much either cause you might not see things the same if you do. The concept of the individual is a scaling concept, within families and small tribes the individual is important, but the overall image of the group defines their individuality amongst the larger collective. Corporate citizenship and the unity that is formed by the workers defines the organization within the markets, this concept extends to the overarching government and even into the galactic community. A long standing stigma of the Sar' is their musical aptitude, having created many different musical instruments that are popular or gaining popularity across the galaxy. Many of these instruments are based off of either naturally growing plants, or converted refuse from various industries, scrap metals being commonly used to fashion different precussive instruments. One of the most widely spread is the handpan, which has been adopted and renamed by many non-Sar' civilizations. Government, Spirituality, and Economy The Saric’Tau empire is the only official union in the Orion Cluster, spanning a number of star systems along the Perseus Arm of the galaxy between the Cruxian Empire and the Sirian Domains. Each member species has control of their individual planets and are free to do as they wish within the overarching laws of the empire. Sentient species were given the ability to claim new planets as their homes, but most were willing to travel to already inhabited planets and join forming colonies, creating a bond between all the member races. The Sar’ however are the largest population within the union and as all citizens are given equal opportunities, several Sar’ have been elected as representatives to the senate on behalf of non-Sar’ civilizations. Even though there are several species within the union and several different belief systems, the Saric’Tau tribal beliefs are the most popular form of spiritualism throughout the territories. The teachings, which the Sar’ call Tsu’thul , is a combination of nature worship and shamanism with a focus on the general respect for life and the planets that allow life to exist. Respect, consultation, etc. of the ancestral spirits is also a common practice. The almost tribal like rituals are a common occurrence, almost all Sar’ go through birth and death rituals, three naming rituals and several annual celebratory and traditional seasonal rituals (amongst several other important events like natal anniversaries, pregnancy, etc.). Having a large number of settled systems and being the largest population, the Sar’ took their currency with them and standardized it, a bit by force, but it was an important step to solidifying the union and in the end helped make the empire prosperous. Military The Sar’ are credited with having the largest and most powerful independent navy within the Orion Cluster, this is mostly in part to the vast number of ships and enlisted citizens. All Sar’ are raised to volunteer for military service (with an approximate 98% Sar’ volunteer rate), several non-Sar’ member species enlist as well. Fortunately the Sar’ navy has never had to be deployed in any offensive campaign, the navy is commonly referred to as a “Home Defense Force”, protecting planets and space lanes from the occasional outsider threat. Planetside, the Sar’ are just as formidable if not more so than many other species, their speed, strength, spatial awareness and dexterity make the average Sar’ a very intimidating threat to most infantry forces. Saric'Tau - concept 2 by Zarnala.png|Saric'Tau Tribe Head Concepts by Zarnala Saric'Tau - concept 3 by Zarnala.png|Saric'Tau Wapar Concept by Zarnala Saric'Tau - concept 4 by Zarnala.png|Saric'Tau Wapar Concept by Zarnala Saric'Tau - concept by Zarnala.png|Saric'Tau High-Seer Concept by Zarnala Category:Orion Cluster